SF’s “Pink Triangle” Illuminated with 2,700 Pink Lights in 2020
On Saturday June 27th at 9:00pm (PST), a historic community-led effort will take place to Illuminate The Pink Triangle, Patrick Carney’s iconic public art installation celebrating its 25th anniversary atop Twin Peaks, with 2,700 LED nodes of pink light.
A Grand Lighting is scheduled for Saturday, June 27, starting at 9 PM (Pacific).
For the past 24 years, hundreds of volunteers have gathered near the top of Twin Peaks to install The Pink Triangle. Led by founder and longtime LGBTQ+ activist Patrick Carney, this gigantic hillside installation can be seen from across the San Francisco Bay every Pride Weekend. This year, the Pink Triangle’s 25th anniversary — which coincides with the 50th anniversary of SF Pride — social-distancing restrictions put the status of this large-scale public art project in limbo.
Fortunately, to honor this historic occasion, Carney has teamed up with Illuminate (the nonprofit behind The Bay Lights) to Illuminate the Pink Triangle. This year, a small, specialized team will safely install more than 2,700 LED nodes, creating a two-week long vibrant acre of light and revealing a mesmerizing, elegant civic focal point. The Pink Triangle will remain illuminated through July 10, 2020
Pink Torch Procession
In advance of the lighting of The Pink Triangle, a multi-city Pink Torch Procession will take place in Oakland and San Francisco, featuring Oakland’s Mayor Libby Schaaf at the start of the Pink Torch Procession and San Francisco’s Mayor London Breed who will welcome the torch procession as it culminates in San Francisco at the base of Twin Peaks and then light The Pink Triangle.
Pink Saturday, June 27th
- Oakland -2-4:30p Lake Merritt to Bay Bridge
- San Francisco 6-8:30p Ferry Building to Twin Peaks
- Global Grand Lighting: Illuminate The Pink Triangle 9:00p
Beginning in Oakland, with participating partners Oakland Pride and Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, the procession will circle Lake Merritt, passing the LGBTQ Community Center, the location of the infamous BBQ Becky, and a historic Black Panther site. The torch will then make its way across the Bay Bridge as the procession builds, to the Ferry building where it will proceed up Market Street to Twin Peaks.
To light the path towards the Illumination of The Pink Triangle, numerous community notables will be participating in the Pink Torch Procession, including representatives from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Donna Sachet, First Lady of the Castro & 30th Absolute Empress of San Francisco, alongside her good friend, activist, and former SF Pride President Gary Virginia, as well as, Joe Hawkins, Founder of Oakland Pride and CEO of Oakland LGBTQ Center Center.
Torchbearers will be escorted by socially-distanced volunteers and several members of Bikes on Dykes. Torchbearers will carry the iconic pink torch created and donated by Burning Man artists Josh Zubkoff and Srikanth Guttikonda, of the Looking Up Arts Foundation.
PINK TRIANGLE DETAILS
- First year of the Pink Triangle: 1996
- Size: almost 200 feet in diameter, covering approximately one acre
- Personnel: in previous years, 300 volunteers
- Illuminated Pink Triangle: 2,700 LED nodes, 43 rows of lights
- Measurements: 100 feet along top, 200 feet along sides
- 2020 Global grand lighting: Saturday, June 27, 8 PM at San Francisco’s Twin Peaks
- Social media hashtag: #ThePinkTriangle
ILLUMINATE
- Established in 2011, in conjunction with the creation of The Bay Lights
- Mission: “Illuminate rallies large groups of people together to create impossible works of public art that, through awe, free humanity’s better nature.”
- Notable Bay Area projects: the Bay Lights, Harvey’s Halo, Conservatory of Flowers, Grace Light at Grace Cathedral
SF PRIDE
- Established: 1970 as “Gay Freedom Day”
- Executive Director: Fred Lopez
- #Pride50 Celebration information here
